Why It’s Important for Lawyers to Build Expertise and Stand Out From A Crowd

In this increasingly saturated market, being a successful lawyer means standing out from the crowd and becoming the expert in a specific field. Due to economic pressures, it is now necessary for a lawyer to develop a powerful brand in order to make a good living. This means going above and beyond being a hard worker and a self-aware lawyer. Additional research in the field, networking, and self-promotion to garner awareness are all necessary actions required to thrive in the legal community.

In this episode of The Legal Toolkit, Jared Correia interviews internationally established marketing strategy consultant, Dorie Clark, about why it is important for lawyers to become subject matter experts, how they might realistically do so, and what the benefits of success are. Clark explains how many lawyers don't try to become experts because they don't believe it is possible, others think that expertise and success should fall into their laps due to hard work, and a third group think that it requires a genius level of intelligence. They should instead be expanding an expert niche, doing original research, combining ideas and fields, or creating a definitive guide to a system. Although expertise requires additional work, the benefits include a more trusting relationship with clients resulting in increased efficiency and results.

Dorie Clark is the CEO at Clark Strategic Communications and is a frequent contributor to Forbes, Harvard Business Review, and Entrepreneur. She has guest lectured at Harvard Business School, the Harvard Kennedy School, Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, the Wharton School and the MIT Sloan School of Management. Her new book, Stand Out: How To Find Your Breakthrough Idea and Build a Following Around It, further delves into the topics discussed in this podcast.